Parents in Bradford are to be encouraged to make their homes a smoke-free zone to protect the health of their children.

West Yorkshire Smoking and Health, a tobacco control alliance, has been given £28,000 by the Department of Health to develop a new campaign called Smoke-Free Homes Smoke-Free Zones.

The pilot project is the first of its kind in the UK and the aim is to get parents, especially those living in disadvantaged areas and in Asian communities, to enforce smoking restrictions in their homes.

It is hoped to get at least 2,000 homes in West Yorkshire to pledge to be smoke-free by May, which will see World No Tobacco Day.

Di Woodall, of the Bradford Stop Smoking Service, said: "The idea is to address passive smoking in the home where children are most likely to be exposed to smoke.

"A lot of people know that smoking is bad for them, but they do not always know that it is bad for children to breathe in their smoke as well.

"If a parent smokes, a child may inhale the equivalent of 150 cigarettes a year. This can wreak havoc with their health."

Mrs Woodall said the campaign was not calling for an outright ban on smoking in the home, but parents would be encouraged to sign up to one of three promises.

The gold promise will be to make the home totally smoke-free at all times, the silver promise to allow smoking only in one well-ventilated room and to never smoke in front of children, and the bronze promise is to never smoke while children are present.

Those who sign up for the gold promise will be entered into a prize draw to win £500 in DIY vouchers to give their home a make-over.

Everyone will get an information pack and a smoke-free goodie bag to raise awareness of the dangers of passive smoking. Those who take part will be asked to fill in a questionnaire to evaluate the success of the project.

The campaign is being officially launched at the Royal Armouries in Leeds on Tuesday, January 28, with patron Fiona Castle, wife of the late entertainer Roy Castle, who died from lung cancer attributed to years of passive smoking.

Children from class 4J at Buttershaw Primary School, who helped develop the logo for the campaign, will also be there along with look-a-likes of Dumbledore and Hagrid of Harry Potter fame.

For an application form to sign up to the campaign, call Di Woodall on (01274) 223943.